10月1日

September was a terribly busy month for me. I had to consider a lot of matters, such as disposing all the furniture in my ex-home and in my IPMU room, saving all the important documents as PDF files to reduce the weight of my luggage/parcels, and finally packing all of them into five boxes, two suitcases, 2+3 TB HDDs, and a 500 GB VPS server (in Japan).

September 22nd I asked Keisuke to drive me with my stuffs in my IPMU room, 23rd I tried to dispose all the stuffs in the room. 23rd, 24th, 25th and 26th are the garbage-collection days in my town, and I had to pick up all the stuff which should be disposed for each days. 23rd and 26th were for flammables, 24th for plastics, and importantly 25th was non-flammables, i.e., anything.

Those days were in daily basis, and hereafter hour-basis. 26th 9am my furniture was picked up by specialized staffs. Thus I had to move to a hotel in 千駄木, the town I had lived for more than seven years before I moved to 柏, but before that I had to prepare the parcels that were going to be sent to my hometown and my new town in 28th morning. I on the day submitted a document of the moving to the city office. 27th was Saturday, and it was consumed to sleeping, as I could sleep only two hours in 26th morning, and having my hair cut as preparation to the hard-water in Israel. Ah I also went to 本号, the Jiro-type ラーメン restaurant which three times per week I went to when I was in 千駄木. Jiro (二郎) is a special category of ラーメン and is my best-favorite junk food. Please note that 本号 is one of the best Jiro-type restaurant in Tokyo. Then 28th, Sunday, 10am a postal worker came to pick up the parcels; then 11am a student, to whom I would give my one-year-old blue bicycle, came to pick up the bike. I told him how to ride on and maintain the bicycle. Then I had to go to IPMU to arrange my data in HDDs. Finally I went to 東中野 to eat シュニ郎, Jiro-ラーメン hand-made by Shunirr; it actually turned out to be a small farewell party of me.

29th I did all the stuff on IPMU. 11am I met a relative working near IPMU to say good-bye, and then cleaned up my room in IPMU, returned the keys back, attended the last group-lunch, and did saying see-you-again to all the group members in IPMU. I had to go back to my home by 3pm, where I signed the cancellation document of my room and returned the keys. Then I packed everything in my huge suitcase, and went back to 千駄木, the hotel. I walked there around, and looked back the days in the town with nostalgia.

30th was the last day in Japan. Of course, I had to prepare many documents such as a final report of my fellowship, and to dissolve all the contracts such as newspapers, electricity, and cell phones. The day begins with cancellation of the cell phones, and then went to 池袋 to buy electric adapters etc. Then I came back to 千駄木 to go to 東京大学 to get money back from 東京大学 CO-OP, to say good-bye to people such as my supervisors, and, more importantly, to have the last 本号 (normal-size with one extra pork). Also I went to Espresso Factory, my favorite coffee shop, to say good-bye to the master. I had iced caffe-latte. Then I came to 成田 airport. Now I am writing this in the plane.

In this two weeks I met most of the people important for me living around 東京. "The Car" including Shunirr on 14th, 21st and 28th; a relative on 29th; a "friend" on 24th and 28th; a "tender" on 25th and 29th. I had really good time.

My flight, 22:00 成田 to Istanbul, was the last flight on the day. It really seemed stupid to me that they were trying to establish a hub airport with this seven-eleven, i.e. 7am-11pm, airport. Once one experienced a 24h airport such as Ataturk airport in Istanbul, they will be annoyed that 成田 airport, the Japan's principle international airport, is a seven-eleven.

Anyway, I could take a shower, have a 海鮮丼 (a rice bowl with various 刺身), buy water and tea and an ice cream, and do some Internet. I was on board, and now in the high sky. On the take-off the display in front of me showed the catch phrase of Turkish airline, "WIDEN YOUR WORLD". The windows were just in black, perhaps because of clouds.

I arrived Istanbul Ataturk airport, and stayed for one hour. Then the flight to תל אביב. When the airplane reached a runway, the sun touched the edge of mountains. The sun rose, the plane ascending to the sky.

Finally I arrived תל אביב בן-גוריון airport. Passport check, luggage pick-up, and bought a bottle of Coca-Cola (also I received a card with green heart from young guys). I was going to buy a SIM card, but luckily the one I used in my last visit seems still available;actually it is out of date; I had to buy or recharge... I am now in a train to חיפה חוף הכרמל.

Arrived. I am taking shower to go to the department.

Dear Gamayauber,

I am now, as I wrote above, in ישרהל. I do not know whether I shall thank you for, e.g., your advice, but at least I am conscious that I am glad to have read your blog articles. Your articles are "有り難い" ones; where I tried to find an English translation of this word but I could only find the word "divine", which should be inappropriate. Anyway I did an exodus, and will hopefully be free from everything in Japan.

As you try to find origin of the Japanese's mentality, which you said greatly different from Westerners', I also have considered characters of, or what is special in, Japanese language in comparison with Hindu-European ones. This stay, in a country with Afro-Asian language, will help the thought of mine a lot. I hope to discuss the topic with you someday.

You seems bored with some nation; your tweets are sometimes polluted with rage. Please keep your brain not to be infected.

Best regards.

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10月2日

I went to bank to open my account, where I will get a check book and a credit card for me. I have never used a check book, nor I do not know the system well; completely new experience. As for a new experience, I wrote many many signatures. Some documents have more than five places to be signed, and my signatures seems to fluctuate a lot. Perhaps my signature will be much simplified in this stay.

Anyway with a bank account I went to the visiting scientists coordinator, and there I got my ID card. With the card I went to my secretary to register my information, to a manager of our building to permit my entrance with the card, and to a network manager (several times) so that I could use Wi-Fi networks.

A problem is that the first salary will be on next month; I suppose that the coverage of my flight from Japan to here will be, once it is deposited, enough for me to survive this month... I have to use my Japanese credit card a lot...

I also had to make a contract on health insurance. Medical service in ישראל seems similar to that in US, and different from Japanese; so it was difficult for me to understand the system and usage of the health insurance. Anyway one year insurance costs $730; rather cheaper.

I went to a grocery store, and I bought an eggplant, a mango, baguette, milk, yogurt, butter, and olive oil; they are rather cheap. But frozen salmon slices were expensive. ₪10 per a slice. I am going to be a vegetarian.

Also I bought a cell phone; precisely a SIM card. ₪69 per month for first 18 months, and ₪109 afterward. I do not understand why they do so, but anyway I now can use the 3G and 4G networks of ORANGE. The member in "team car" helped me a lot, and I followed their advice to buy iPhone 5c A1529 (actually I bought in the last year) and ORANGE SIM card. By the way, I was firstly going to buy Cellcom SIM as they offer with slightly cheaper, but it is only for ישראלים.

Now my life in היפה begins.

Comments

Rue Favart2014/10/05(Sun) 00:44:50

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It was surprising to know that you are away from the country, but I am happy to know that your life has started smoothly.

Good luck, please enjoy.

By the way, I think your signature is little bit unreadable!!

みしょ2014/10/05(Sun) 01:12:09

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Thank you for a comment! I am really glad to have your message again. היפה is a beautiful city, and interesting for residents' Jewish custom.

I hope you be with yourself, and wish to see you someday.

Also note that my signature was *little bit* unreadable. It will be completely unreadable, like those of Westerners.

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10月4日

Oct 3rd and 4th are Friday and Saturday, and therefore holidays. However, the day Oct 4th is a special Jewish holiday יום כיפור. It is so important because is defined in Leviticus (ויקרא) 16:29. In usual holidays all stores including grocery stores are closed and public transportation does not work except for buses in היפה, but today the buses even do not run, and local TV broadcasts were terminated until the day's end, 20:00. (Here a day begins in night, and ends in evening.)

For me these two days are recovery days. I slept pretty longer, and tried some cooking (with unfamiliar grocery, such as a huge green-pepper and a huge eggplant... especially huge eggplants are problematic because it easily gets discolored...). But anyway I enjoyed a baguette with olive oil or butter, which are rather cheaper than in Japan.

Also I slowly started studies. Many things are in my brain to prevent my concentration, but I know that it is the postdoc life, as I learned in the 1.5 years in 柏, IPMU. I know that to do some research only for 10 minutes is important and necessary for me. Also I should lead a regular life...

I tried to do laundry today, but it requires three ₪5 coins as well as detergent. Postponed to tomorrow. Also I have to find my room; I have to find some עברית class to learn עברית; should contact to Ayellet on traveling expense and housing. I hope those are all for now...

A photo

A photo is discovered; this photo was taken by a funny guy in a conference I attended in this August. It was a sneak shot, i.e., I did not realize that he took the photo. It is pretty cool, and so I will upload it here :)

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10月5日

Fifth day

I today have several things to write down, but let me begin with a diary article.

This is my fifth day in חיפה (I might have misspelled as היפה because ה and ח have similar (actually I cannot distinguish) sounds.) Breakfast is a cup of yogurt, granola with milk, and several baguette slices with butter or olive oil. Office work is almost done, and what I have to consider seriously/immediately is housing. I went to Ayellet (an administration person) to collect information (and also asked her to cover my travel expense, which was firstly rejected but afterwards my secretary told me that it should be and she would arrange it), and also to Noa Nof (a contact person in the international school) to have a list of housings. There, by the way, I asked about עברית classes for me, and I decided to join it (₪1100 for 28x1.5 hour lessons). Also I asked another postdoc from Japan, 修一, that how he found his room. His landlord has many rooms close to טכניון, and I decided to meet her; I also made some appointments with other landlords.

I had to arrange my computing environment. Riva gave me (precisely, my boss bought for me) a desktop computer, in which I will install Debian I am accustomed to use and also Windows over VM. I also went to David for an account of grid computing server. I must learn how to use grid computing resource.

Did you notice that I have introduced many people in this article? In this country everything is carried off by personal basis; people know who is in charge of this issue and where their room is; I am to visit them and to ask them as "Sho". It is a great difference of culture for me; in Japan we always say that "I have to go to 銀行", or asked to "事務係", or ask the "IT team", but in this country "you should visit Ayellet", "Davit will provide you", or "you have to visit Noa Nof".

Anyway, as I wrote, I met a landlord to visit four of her rooms. Some of them are too large, or a bit older; I did not decide yet. I will see others tomorrow. Then I went to a פלאפל store; I love the store since my last visit in this May; it was of course very good. (Actually I had a similar food in lunch that I do not remember the name well...) Then I went to a supermarket; I have been a heavy olive-oil user for these five days; I bought a large bottle of olive oil, bottles of orange juice and milk, and a pack of granola. I also bought an onion to have in this dinner brown-fried together with a salmon slice (where I used olive oil a lot!).

Then I got back to the room in the guest house, did laundry, made today's dinner (salmon, onion, and three pieces of baguette slice), and am writing this articles.

On my leave from Japan

I did not write that I was leaving Japan to ישראל until I actually left Japan. The leave was decided on the middle of January, and I deliberately keep it secret. Some of them could notice that from my diary articles for I sometimes do not use Japanese to write them, or for I sometimes mentioned on an exodus. (by the way, as I am looking back my articles to write this note, I am surprised that I wrote pretty touching Japanese articles. I seems to have been a great Japanese diarist! Articles in English are rather banal, compared with those in Japanese. Japanese-language has lost one good writer.)

I kept it secret on the Internet, while I told it to people who I met directly (face-to-face). It is because I wanted to know who can understand that I wanted to keep it secret (and desirably can guess the reason why, which I am yet not going to write down in this article), and who were so careless that they talked about my leave to somebody else.

Some guys understood my intent, and the secret was not spread via them, but some could not understand and told it to their friends. It is actually natural that they could not see my intent, because it is nearly impossible to guess why I wanted to keep it secret; even I cannot.

Anyway this is why I did not write it on the Internet. I just wanted to see your reaction against my act.

R, P, M, ...

I was looking back what I wrote in this year, and really surprised that many comments were given under the name "P", "R", "M". WHO ARE YOU? CAN'T YOU TYPE MORE THAN ONE LETTER? I cannot understand why they did not use their names, nor "anonymous", but wrote under indecisive identifiers. Yes! They are indecisive!

I mainly use my name "Misho" as the identifier, and sometimes completely anonymous. Some of the comments seem reasonable to me to be written by the indecisive identifiers (i.e., they wanted me to realize who they are but wanted to be anonymous against the others), but most of them seem to be written with their indecisiveness. I hate it.

(Disclaimer: I am not a professional on linguistics, or I do not provide qualitative evidences; instead these are based on what I feel and think. If you know well, I want you to tell me the truth or your opinion. I will of course welcome your comments even if you are not a professional.)

It is its weak productivity, especially in formation of adjectives. I think that we actually cannot produce a new word within Japanese. To see how we usually describe a new concept, let us consult some new-word dictionaries.

You can easily find that there are lots of nouns, and a small number of adjectives. You can compare with those in English. It is even difficult to find new adjectives.

I can find three points from this list. Firstly, some of them come from foreign languages, such as ナウい (now い) and エモい (emotional い). Secondly, some of them are just abbreviations of traditional words, like ケバい (けばけばしい) or ウザい (うざったい). I further find that most adjectives are negative words; it might be true.

I did not expect that there are so few! Now I understand why I cannot express my applause or admiration without the three words "いい", "すごい", or "やばい"! We the young Japanese have only three words as our words to express our feeling happy!

This is what I want to say; weak productivity of adjectives.

I suppose that a new concept can be produced in Chinese characters; we can combine two 漢字 to express a new concept, such as 愁 (feel like autumn, i.e., sad but tightened) or 憬 (a sight in mind; yearning for future). This is because 漢字s are ideographic letters.

In English, or most languages, we transform a new noun to an new adjective. This is however impossible in Japanese, because most of new nouns originate in foreign language, or combination of words which come from Chinese.

Japanese consists of many foreign language. We always use カタカナ words. This is because we cannot produce new words by our own. Especially with word processors we cannot generate new 漢字s. Previously Japanese produced many concepts like 細胞, 哲学, and 体験, but it requires great knowledge on the letters and impossible for us; it is much easier to use imported words as it is.

Thus Japanese is now full of foreign language. However we do not understand the original meaning. Who realizes the connection between エキセントリック and センター? Do you know that コンセプト relates to "知覚"? And レセプション and レシート? Do you know the meaning of "レット" in アウトレット?

If they were written in 漢字s, still, we could understand the connection. But now it is in a phonogram, カタカナ. Nobody understand hidden relations between words, concepts. Our thoughts are split into many slips, as long as we think in Japanese. Our expressions of our feelings lost power; we can only say "すごい" or "やばい".

I know this article is very unorganised. I wanted to write with good arrangement, but it requires, as I decided to write in English, a lot of time for me to do so; I do not have enough time. (And it may be intrinsically difficult to discuss Japanese in English...) So if you are interested in, please write by yourself with organised way. If you think something about this topic, please write on your diaries or give me a comments.

10月6日

We have a clear, clear sky in these days. No clouds there. Going out my room, I am everyday astonished by the beauty.

With heavy sunshine in the afternoon. Strong sunlight and I feel hot. Comfortable in the shade. Dry air of the Mediterranean.

With growing moonlight in the night. Clearly seen with a beautiful sunset.

It is but not the moon I saw in the last month. It was called 月, but it is because over Japan. Now the moon is over Palestina.

A girl who was a moon of mine gave me a book on the Οδυσσεια of it. Accordingly, it was over this land. I do not know what it is called in this land, but it was not that over that land.

Today was the sixth day. I got up to eat a mango, and several slices of the baguette with olive oil. I did not know how to eat a mango, but this time I learned. Surprised by the huge seed. After that I knew it often causes contact dermatitis. Though not observed yet, it is a fear for me. (Is this blister in the mouth caused by the mango...? or because of the very spicy sauce I put on my פיתה פלאפל?)

Anyway I went to the institute, and I was looking for an apartment nearly for all day long. It seems a really heavy competition. I could not find good one yet, and I have to do over it tomorrow. Also I am setting up my computer.

It is really terrible that my brain is filled by the housing problem and I could not proceed my physics today. Obsession is a bad habit of mine. Anyway did three phone calls, but in vain. One appointment, but the room was a bit empty. Umm.

10月7日

The day of troubles

One week has passed. Woke up at 8am, and toasted some bread. It was today's breakfast.

Then fire alarm rang. The fire alarm of this floor. I was cooking, and fire alarm rang.

I might be the origin, but might not. It is still unclear, because no fire, no smoke, no vapor. A heat sensor might saw the pot (with which I toasted the bread; I should buy a pan...) dangerous. Anyway the origin was unclear.

Anyway I had the breakfast, and went to the institute. Another problems; the passcode for Internet banking was lost for a technical reason. I did not solve yet, because I do not have a cash nor credit card yet, but I will have to solve it.

Anyway I did some preparation for research. I set up a Debian server (with several troubles and several trials), and I will install Windows as a virtual machine on it tomorrow.

Lunch was a (huge) piece of lasagne.

I also had to find my apartment. Some appointment; I saw one, will see another tomorrow. The one I saw was very clean and brand-new, and not expensive. It is the best candidate. But a heavy competition. I have to decide asap.

Then I went to supermarket, but bought nothing. I wanted a big (30cm) pan with a lid, but there were a 26cm pan with a lid, and a 30cm pan without a lid. I thought it was difficult to cook some good dishes without a pan, and thus dinner was פלאפל, three days in a row.

Then the third trouble. I came to my room, and touched the door sensor with a card key. But the door wouldn't open. The sensor recognised my key as it turned green (and when I touched another door with the key the light turned red. Well working.), but the lock did not released. I called the security; took one hour. He gave me a physical key, saying that electronics sometimes fails and we had to go back to the old style. Exactly. Anyway I wanted to show him how the door rejected me.

Then the electronics recovered; the door opens with the card key. Ridiculous...

The security person was laughing. It was a relief, or a consolation, for me.

Moon and 月

I want to append a comments on what I claimed yesterday, that the "moon over Palestina" (הירח) is different from "月" over Japan. Or precisely, "つき".

Waiting for the security, I enjoyed הירח with its 13 to 14th day. The sky was very clear, pretty dry, and הירח was arrogantly watching us. Meanwhile, つき does not look us.

つき should be with くも (clouds). Several 和歌 in 百人一首, "なつの", "め", "あきか", are good examples; つき often hides herself in くも. つき is very shy. We know it is very shy. Sometimes it shows her full figure to us. But it is usually in winter, so we look it with a mind tightened with the cold air. It is different from הירח, clearly seen in a warm summer night.

Therefore הירח is not つき. つきはくまなきをのみみるものかは, but הירח seems to be the best when it is full, at least in this good summer.

Beautiful Japanese

By the way, don't you know any weblogs/diaries with beautiful Japanese, other than Gamayauber's?

Gamayauber gives us a beautiful, with a certain length, Japanese, but there must be more by Japanese native writers. I know some write very good Japanese, but they are shredded on Twitter, or built just as a manual-like description of what they did.

I do not want to write or speak, but I want to read Japanese filled with psyche of the writer.

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10月8日

A day of walk

Today is a half-day. Precisely, a very important holiday סוכות, which is defined in תנ״ך, begins from this evening.

I had an appointment at 8:30 on housing; went there by a 2km walk. The room was good, but too large and clearly for a couple. Then I went to a shopping mall, גרנד קניון, to by a frying pan with a lid. The stores had, but they were too expensive (₪300). I bought a hair drier, which is necessary for me because my head skin seems to be damaged by the hard water; I should dry it soon after shower.

Then I went to a central bus station at חוף הכרמל to buy a student-discounted bus pass, but I could not get it as an official document was required.

I went back to another shopping mall מרכז חורב, but a pan with a lid was not there.

Then I took a wrong bus, which I led to the previous mall גרנד קניון. I wanted to go back to my town זיו. An iPhone app (Moovit) said that there was a 1.5km way. I followed. But it was exactly a mountain, seems a small dry riverbed; there were many lizards (or possibly snakes; I feared and couldn't see all...) or flies or... insects, and rocks, roots, stumps, and fallen trees... As I wrote in Japanese, I am always ready for such climbings, having 2 liter water, with long sleeves, full-length trousers, and a scientist's mind. So it was, although tough, an interesting walk. (But I surprised when I saw two girls in the mid of the way. The riverbed might be their hidden park.) I surprised that, and understood that, היפח is a town in a mountain. When you walk away 1 minute from a car park, you are a climber.

Then I went to the supermarket I always go, and bought grocery and a 28cm flying pan with a lid. (I thought it was expensive, but actually the cheapest. I bought a red paprika, an eggplant, an avocado, and an onion. Also frozen salmon slices, butter, milk, gouda cheese (btw the store has many kinds of cheese! Interesting!), and spaghetti. Also strawberry-banana juice, as I thought that strawberry banana was a special fruit that I did not know, but actually it is just mixed juice. Mayonaise, and a bottle of a sauce for pasta (I don't know what it is because I have not tried yet.). Mayonaise is different from キユーピー's; Shunirr, who is famous for his good home-made 二郎-ramen, told me that キユーピー has evolved mayonaise and theirs are special compared to those found in the other countries. The theory of mayonaise evolution.

I made a fried salmon slice with a mayonaise-sauced fried onion, and had it with baguette slices, which I have loved for this one week! I also bought a wine, הר חרמון לבן 2013, made in גולן heights, medium-body (גוף בינוני). It was wet, fruity like juice, and ... difficult to express in English! Anyway it is good with salmon, and interestingly, כשר with a sign of a רב and "מבושל", which literary means "boiled" but actually "not suitable for people in different religion."I should clarify this point; this wine, or יין מבושל, may be actually boiled... I will ask to the mates. See details for Wikipedia.

By the way, today we had several thunders, and the full moon is hidden in clouds, sometimes appears, exactly like Japanese つき in くも (叢雲). Thunder without rain. We had a heavy rain only for about 10 minutes.

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10月13日

These days

It passed five days since the last article in this diary; I thought it is four, but actually five. Times are flies.

These days are "תנ״ך"-defined holiday סוכות, until next Thursday's (16th) sunset; the first and eighth day, i.e. these Thursdays, are special and they do not work, and they do not either on Saturdays as usual. So, finally, Wednesdays to Saturdays are holidays for these two weeks. Everything begins on the next Sunday, 20th Oct.

And that is why I was mostly in the guest room, or the room in the institute, and did some office works, set-up my computer and account in the Technion grid computing, learned how to use it, started doing computation, proceeded my researches, and caught a cold.

Another important stuff that I did in these days are to cook spaghetti. To learn (study?) how to cook pasta is actually of importance because it as well as bread are the principal foods, i.e, the source of carbohydrate. The first pasta was spaghetti, which is familiar with me. I enjoyed spaghetti, which sometimes I boiled too much to be too soft and I learned the importance of taking care of its hardness, with some combinations of pomodoro source, eggplant, salmon and olive oil, or of mayonaise, avocado, which actually was immature and hard, and salmon again. I will next time try to chill spagetti to dress with tomatoes and olive oil; this recipe was given by one of my juniors in the chorus group but was actually difficult to be done in Japan; now is the time to enjoy it!

Ah, and I also went to see another apartment on Friday. It was very close to Technion, 20 minutes walk from Physics buiding, which is very fine for me, large enough, and many equipments are; I was going to move there.

Today I woke up at ten, when I realised that I mostly recovered from the cold; it was terrible a few days ago. Anyway then I firstly went to the bank to generate my password of Internet banking, how I lost which is a technically interesting point but I will skip it, and to pick up my credit/cash card and check book. I tried to withdraw money with the card, and succeeded. Very good.

Then I arrived at the institute on noon. I had to talk with my boss on contract for the apartment. But I decided to go lunch with fellows before that; I went to Cafe-Cafe in Technion, and had שקשוקה. It is one of the traditional dishes which I liked in. Also I had some great drink with lemon and mint, but I forgot the name... The drink was huge but ₪17; I will have it many times especially in summer.

Coming back to the institute, I talked with my boss יעל on the apartment and called the landlord. During the call it turned out that the landlord was not responsible for the issue whether he could install a laundry machine in the room; it was constructional issue, and it would take for several days for him to clarify the possibility; though he was pressured to make a contract quickly. It was however important point for me and I could not make a contract without an insurance of the installation. So, though I was really sorry for the land load because I had had him waited for four days, but I gave up the room.

I had another candidate, a bit further but a new building with a laundry machine installed as well as Wi-fi internet prepared. I called the landlord of the apartment, and ask whether the room(s) is still available. It was available, and decided to make a contract with him. (Then I called to the previous man to withdraw my interest.) Currently I am, actually יעל and the landlord are, preparing the contract written in עברית.

I went the apartment to see; there two rooms are available, and I had forgotten which rooms were which. So today I went there again to decide in which room I would live. There the landlord, btw he is very nice, kind and helpful!, were not, and his parents, who live beneath the rooms for rental, welcome me. They showed the rooms, and invited me to their room to talk with them for a while. The father (ah I forgot the name... the name has many difficult sounds; I should have it in written form to remember well...) told me that he was in 神戸. Really interesting; I did not ask him for details, but I would like to have times to hear from him on those days.

Then I went back to the guesthouse in Technion; on the way I found a bio supermarket, which was of course expensive but has Weleda cosmetics and Pukka teas!! Great! And I also went to another shop to buy bottles of water. (the bio market does not have.) I firstly was to buy three bottles with ₪12, but the clerk recommended ₪15 six-bottle-pack. He was a very nice guy.

Now I am going to prepare something for dinner. I yesterday bought another fish than salmon; I will try cooking it.... It is white, so meunière-like is better? But no flour. Anyway a try.

On offensiveness of Japanese

The cooking resulted in not beautiful, but still tasty dishes. That the fish was frozen and when I fried it it gave a lot of water on the frying pan was the biggest fault, and I should do some preparation, possibly with the microwave oven (ah, btw, the new apartment has no microwave! I should prepare it...), in the next time,

I suppose that Gamay has mentioned that Japanese are offensive for several times; The latest article "japan 5" is an example. "Being out of Japan," I mean being away from Japan or being an outsider, I want to write an essay on that point. I was an outsider.

Japanese are offensive, that can I definitely say. Sadly, with some ache, or might be rage, in the bottom of my mind. I do not know how I should write in English, or

I now picked up a bottle of wine from the fridge. Gonna write with wine.

Japanese are offensive. I can say so conclusively. Not sadly, but regrettably, the claim was with ache in the bottom my mind, or it is resignation which perhaps was strong rage against the society. It was regrettable because the rage, or the resignation, means that I did nothing in those days. It was the days in my elementary and junior high school.

It is very difficult to explain. Badly with alcohol. I will go one by one.

I now understand that I was an outsider in the elementary, junior, and senior high schools. And that I was not an outsider in the University, the University of Tokyo. I think that this is why I consider people I met after I came to Tokyo not offensive, while people I met before that offensive. Those I saw after I came to Tokyo are: in the University, in the chorus group, and in the early years of Twitter. They are more or less similar to me.

I now understand why I thought the classmates in the elementary and the junior high school were offensive. It was because I was different, strange, or beyond their though on human beings, who were only ten years old.

On the elementary school, I have 39 classmates who graduated together, plus several who left the school before the graduation. I remember the names of most of 39, and most of them with their kanji letters. As I could not understand them, I now think that they could not understand me. (After I wrote this I checked my memory to find that I forgot one guy who was a very good friend of me; actually I thought he was in another elementary school due to memory's mixing-up...)

However, It is really fortunate that we were in a class for six years; they were kind enough to finally understand me, or precisely speaking, to forgive my strange acts.

So I thought them as good old schoolmates. I suppose that I have met none of them after I entered the university, and I do not want to attend parties of them. Nonetheless, if I can meet one of them at one time, i.e. if there are only two people: I and s/he, then I am willing to meet him or her.

On the junior high school the situation is a bit different. I have no good memory, ah, I am surprised that I wrote no good memory, trying to correct it as it is so strange to me, but I cannot because it is actually definitely true; I have NO GOOD MEMORY IN THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL!!!!!

Regrettable.

One of the problem is that I had to join a sport club even if I do not want to, and of course I do not want to, play sports.

It was really waste of my time.

I could not even now understand why my parents did not try to refrain me from going the club.

I did not resist. It is also a great regret.

Why I could not resist: I have no confidence at all. I now think that I do not have enough confidence to resist the society before I got 16th on an exam in the high school; 16th among several hundred million.

I do not see why I was unconfident. But anyway I am so unconfident that I obeyed the society; I obeyed to attend the sport club, there my confidence was worn, and became more unconfident. Terrible.

I should the word "offensive" fits on this situation: Japanese society is, or was in those days, offensive.

The people in the school were also offensive. They did not recognise me, and I did not recognise them. Of course, not all of them, and some of them. But the others did nothing to solve the situation; I have to say that they all are in the same guilt, including I am.

Do nothing is equivalent to do bad.

These days I did nothing to solve the situation in Japan. I just left. I did bad.

Ignorance is an expression of offensiveness.

When I was packing my surroundings into the parcel, which is now on the way to Israel, I found a message from one guy: "Do not misappropriate the school as your personal stuff!" Yes, I treat the school as mine, and used it, including the teachers, as I wanted. The message was written as an advice to me, but I now recognise it as an honor to me. I acted as what I wanted in the high school.

I have many good memories on the days.

Appendix

If you want to see Japanese's offensiveness in Tokyo, stand on the right half of the escalators. As you know, they believe that the left half is to stand, while in the right half all must walk. When you remain standing on the right half, people behind you will sometimes (roughly 30% in central Tokyo) get angry and give you bad words, or try to go between you and the person who are at the left of you. It will be a great experience of interest for you.

It was my good habit, especially in going up. (Otherwise I might be pushed and fall to the bottom.)

Appendix to the Appendix

Standing on the right side of escalators can be an expression of offensiveness in some situation. It eventually falls on the issue of beliefs. I act as a libertarian to secure the freedom to remain standing, or to walk.

For example, in 1990s smoking represented the offensiveness, while these days nonsmoking tends to act as an offensive force. I think that the right to be free from smokes should supersede the right to smoke, but situations might go beyond this framework.

名前 削除用の鍵

10月16日

Days passes easilies

On Tuesday and Wednesday I made a contract on my new apartment. As Technion is closed until next Sunday, my boss really helped me to arrange the contract on Tuesday. On the day she invited me and Gabe, a colleague of mine, to a party of her family, held in a סוכה at her house.

Yesterday I made a contract of my house, and the landlord Yaron took me to IKEA and bought a bed for me; he helped me to buy furnitures.

Now everything is prepared. Today I enjoyed researches. Today's dinner was deeply fried eggplant, and fried salmon with gouda cheese. I also made spaghetti. The eggplant was, precisely eggplants in ישרהל are, or more precisely most vegetables except tomatoes are, huge. Eggplant stake with plenty olive oil would be a good dish for me. Good to pursuit arrangements of the dish.

Everything is gradually becoming usual; day is becoming daily.

When I returned the key of my ex-room in 柏, I really surprised that the keychain became empty. I had no keys.

The number of keys decreased day by day. The key of the old bicycle was gone with the bicycle, the key of the new bicycle was picked up with it by a colleague. I returned the key for IPMU, and did for my apartment.

Now the number of keys is increasing; now six. The room key of the office, of the shelf of my desk, two keys for my new apartment, and two keys for the current room.

I'm here.

Comments

Toshihiro MorisAki2014/10/18(Sat) 03:40:39

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こんにちは、久し振りです。

確かWebsite持ってたよなと思って検索してみたら見つかったので、

書き込んでいます。

学会で東大に行くから、

もしかしたらすれ違うくらいはするかなとも思いましたが、

どうやら中東あたりを経由して九州に帰る便でも取らないと叶わないようですね。

素敵な人生になっていっているようで喜ばしい限りです。

みしょ2014/10/19(Sun) 06:28:52

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You should've written in English :)

Toshihiro MorisAki2014/10/19(Sun) 17:27:04

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I read your diary written in some days ago, and found your intention (not completely I understood...)

Anyway, I hope your good life.

みしょ2014/10/19(Sun) 18:16:42

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No deep intentions, just a trial with something like curiosity.

Anyway thank you for a comment, and glad to hear from you. Seems your everything going very well, and it is a nice gift to me in this far.

Btw, I reverted your comment as I didn't intend to ask you delete it; of course, you can still delete it.

名前 削除用の鍵

10月17日

Bicycle

I finally bought a bicycle for ₪800. Not as good as the previous one, but it is enough, and rather too good, for this mountain city. It was a pretty tough ride from the bicycle shop to the office in טכניון, though it is just a 2 km ride. No flat streets in this city.

10月19日

Students

A school year has begun. I can see many new students all around הטכניון, who are, I guess, in orientation tours. I saw many fresh people in the supermarket, and around the dormitories. A student and his father, who drove him to הטכניון with shelves or books, hugging, saying good bye.

My neighbor is also a fresh student; he said he would struggle with the classes as he had not on the desk for seven years. He lives with his girlfriend. Good lives.

I today bought an electric piano. At first I was going to buy second hand ones. I saw the prices on a website of flea market. I went to a musical-instrument store to check the prices. There I found a good YAMAHA electric piano, which is cheaper than the second-hand ones I was interested in. So I decided to buy, as it is much safer than to buy from a person, it immediately. It is funny that the room has no TV, no table, no chairs, but has a piano.

Anyway I am happy that I can play the piano. Actually I always had an access to pianos. When I was in 本郷 campus of 東京大学, two public grand pianos are available without reservations. Kavli IPMU has a public electric piano. Here I was looking for such a public piano, but it seems not easy. Anyway I have it. Good.

10月20日

Keynflation

Monday with a colloquium seminar begins at 7am; I went to a second-hand shop in הטכניון, and then went to the office.

Lunch was at the student center, tried שווארמה. An unique taste of the meat, must be turkey.

Then went to the bank to withdraw some money, and then the bookstore. There's various stationary and PC supply, but expensive as expected! I wanted to buy good headphones, and I found several types. But they didn't have the price tags. I asked a shopwoman the prices, and she checked to find "no price" she said we couldn't sell it now. I feel it's very nice.

Colloquium was on neutrino astronomy. But as it is a colloquium talk, a long introduction, and their work is skippingly talked; I could not understand well...

Btw the number of keys increased again. I now have 7 physical keys and two card keys.... Will be reduced to 6, but still a lot. Keynflation.

Notation

10月25日

Note added on 27 Oct.

I realize that the following discussion with Mathematical language has several errors and lacks, as I am a physicists. I will correct/clarify them in a few days.

Note added on 28 Oct.

I did the corrections.

For everything a reason 3.1

意識 is a complex composed of one's languages. The languages is a complex of words and a grammer. A word expresses one "thing" (a concept). A grammer gives the usage of the words to the user. Thus a person's world is limited to their words. (note: not vice versa.) Movements of their 意識 are limited to the grammers they has.

You should be aware that such a grammer is different from grammers written in textbooks. A grammer of theirs can be very similar to Japanese grammer, or English grammer, or can be a mixture of grammers of several language which they learned. Certainly, one can choose a grammer in a conversation as they likes. I can talk with Japanese-like grammer, and Janglish-like grammer.

Because a person's 意識 is composed by their languages, they use the languages when they deepen their thoughts, as Gamay wrote.

Meanwhile, when a person \(X\) communicates with another \(Y\) with verbal methods, \(X\) has to transform concepts into words, and \(Y\) has to transform the words to concepts \(Y\) has.

As I learned a language called Mathematics, I can write down what I mean in this language. Actually my "languages" contains the Mathematical language.

Let us define a person \(X\), a set of their concept as \(C_X\), a set of their words as \(W_X\), and a grammer \(X\) chooses for the communication as \(g_X\). A string of words can be defined as \(s=(w_1, w_2, \dots, w_n)\), where \(w_i\in W_X\), and usually a grammer is implicitly assumed. It forms a set of strings, \(S_X\), which is a subset of \(\bigcup_{n\in \mathbb N}\prod_{i=1}^{n}W_X=W_X\cup(W_X\times W_X)\cup\dots\). (A note with subtleties: \(X\) usually assume one grammer for one string, but not always, because the set of grammers are not discrete. In other words, those who can use Japanese and English can use a grammer with, e.g., 80%-English plus 19%-Japanese.)

\(X\) wants to tell to \(Y\) a concept \(c\) in \(X\)'s 意識. To this end, \(X\) has one, and perhaps only one, binary relation, \(f_X\subset C_X \times S_{X}\). As described in the next paragraph, \(f_X(c)\neq\emptyset\). Thus \(X\) can choose a string \(s\in f_X(c)\), and tells it to \(Y\). \(Y\) receives \(s\), and \(Y\) understands that what \(X\) wants to tell \(Y\) is an element of a set \(f_Y^{-1}(s)\), which is generated by \(Y\)'s "the funtion".

\(f\) has the following properties. \(f\) is not left-unique, for one can extend a meaning of a word. Also not right-unique, for one can describe a concept with two different strings. Meanwhile, \(f\) is left-total, i.e., \(f(c)\neq\emptyset\) because a person's world is limited to their words. However, not right-unique, i.e., \(f^{-1}(s)\) can be an empty set; a concept which they doesn't know. In that case, one has to parse the string, i.e. to construct a new concept by the input string and an appropriate grammer of theirs and append it to their world.

I call this relation as "a dictionary".

In the first article, Gamay mentioned to poets, novelists, painters and musicians. I have discussed over languages, but the discussion is also valid for musics, paintings, or sculptures, as long as one substitutes "意識" with "認識". In my dictionary, 認識 is a superset of 意識; it is a complex composed of what they speak (one's languages), what they hear, what they see, and what touches them. What they hear is equal to the sounds they (can) generate, and what they see is equal to what they draw. But if one wants to put an item in their 認識 onto their 意識, they has to transform it into a string of words.

Gamay used the words 人間, 認識, 意識, and 言葉. I want to clarify what they mean. I wrote that 意識 is a complex of 言葉 (words), and 認識 is an extension of 意識. I define 人間 as 認識 itself. I cannot find anything in a person (人間) other than their 認識. I can say 認識 cannot be beyond a person. Thus a person is (a complex of) 認識. Finally, 意志 and 判断 are defined as movements of the 認識the 意識.

I do not think about 神 or 悪魔; instead I think along science. It seems to me that science is a religion; science seems to have its own 神. This might be the reason why I cannot understand what Gamay wanted to say in the paragraph beginning with "現代日本人が神や悪魔を論じないで済んでいるのは".

Let's move on to the second article. I agree on the point "私たちの心が社会からの働きかけによって形成されている", because one has to extend their world when they faces to a string \(s\) such that \(f^{-1}(s)=\emptyset\).

\(s\) such that \(f^{-1}(s)=\emptyset\) is the only possibility to extend one's \(C_X\). Therefore, if \(X\) has no words, \(X\) never has a concept without a string given by "社会". Note that \(X\)'s 認識 is not empty even if 意識 is empty.

I don't think the statement "いかにしても伝達できない身体の固有性だけが，個としての私たちの拠りどころだと思います。" is meaningful. YOU can relieve yourself with the idea; one can have their own basement on the uniqueness of their body. But I cannot figure out why we have our basement. Why do we need "拠りどころ"? Also, "身体の固有性" can be understood by its owner. My 認識 never has your "身体の固有性". Therefore, for me, your "身体の固有性" does not exists. The "拠りどころ" is only for the owner, and then, if I don't need "拠りどころ", I don't have to understand the statement.

I tried to write in English, but it seems to be a fail. I should have written in Japanese, because I could not find a string which has a similar meaning to 個としての拠りどころ in my English-like dictionary.

In summary, I agree that "個としての拠りどころ" can be found in 身体の固有性, but I cannot see the importance of the claim because I cannot see the importance of "個としての拠りどころ".

Following the third article, I will deepen the above mathematically-described discussion.

Gamay firstly mentioned that "It is strange that a person receiving a greeting 'こんにちは' does not listen what is said", but it is very natural for me because 'こんにちは' means "Today is". If one listen what is said, they will be confused.

Here is a trick. As I wrote, a communication from \(X\) to \(Y\) is done with two relations \(f_X\) and \(f^{-1}_Y\). These are not functions, but relations! \(X\) has to choose one string \(s\) from the set \(f_X(c)\), and \(Y\) has to choose a concept, or several concepts which will be remain vague in that single communication, from the set \(f^{-1}_Y(s)\). Here, \(X\) chooses \(s\) so that \(Y\) can pick up \(c\) properly from the set \(f^{-1}_Y(s)\). (Note that both of these choices are affected by their 認識.) More mathematically, \(X\) guesses the resultant set \(f^{-1}_Y(f_X(c))\), and choose \(s\in f_X(c)\) so that \(f^{-1}_Y(s)\) becomes similar to \(\{c\}\).

In the 焼鳥屋-case, the guy expected that \(f^{-1}_Y(あてあああーす)\) was similar to \(f^{-1}_X(毎度ありがとうございました。また，どうぞ)\), and thus he used the string あてあああーす. Not strange at all.

Gamay mentioned "おおきな辞書", but I don't think it exists(To claim this point I have to define "exist", but here I did not. So I remove this claim.). It is a virtual concept which is generated by people's "dictionaries", e.g., \(\{f_p|p\in 日本語人\}\). It is a subset of the speaker's dictionary, and you can naively understand that it is usually the intersection of the considered dictionaries.

For example, I write this article with utilising a virtual dictionary which I expect those who have both of a Japanese-like and an English-like dictionary commonly have. I sometimes write a diary article with MY dictionary, where I assume that no person other than I can completely understand what I want to say.

Usually people do not realize they are choosing a string among the set \(f(c)\). They realise it when they learn their second language, I think.

It seems to me that "観念の高み" is the procedure of generating a new concept from a string \(s\) such that \(f^{-1}(s)=\emptyset\). A poem is usually that kind of strings. You called it as ちいさな辞書, but it is not a dictionary; it is a procedure, and whether one can generate THE concept properly or not depends on one's 認識, i.e., the whole set of one's concepts, words, grammers, dictionary, and something hidden behind one's 意識. Utilising the whole 認識, we can generate the 小さな辞書, and furthermore we can share it if we have 認識 enough to parse the string properly.

Comments

北嶋悠歩2014/10/26(Sun) 20:20:30

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Thanks so much! ありがとうございます！ Texts that gives me a fantastic “認識”is followed by me, I understood, e.g. Gamay's blog. Are you genius? When I'm reading the last two paragraphs, I said “わお！わお！”.

I will check this site in future.

数学って強力ですね。コツコツ学びたいと思います。

Tetsujin2014/10/26(Sun) 21:01:07

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Hi, Misho. I am tetsujin. I mean by 「私たちの拠り所」 the basement, or foundation, of the uniqueness of EACH of us. I don't intend to say that a group of people as a whole have the foundation of the uniqueness, or unity, in their bodies. It seems to me that you might have understood it in that way.

By the way, you say that "My 認識 never has your 身体の固有性". I would like to say that you can recognize the existence of my body when you sense it, especially when you touch it. Your finger cannot intrude the space that my body fills with itself. The resistance your finger is confronted with can be said a rough definition of the fact that there is some being in the world. Of course you yourself do not have MY feeling of my body. But you can find the existence of my body in your experience and it is the property, or the proper being, of my body.

Tetsujin2014/10/27(Mon) 19:29:34

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Hi, Misho. I have another suggestion. I think I may translate「個としての拠りどころ」into “the basis of personal identity.” So when I say 「身体の固有性だけが……個としての拠りどころだ」, it should mean, literally, “only the proper being of one’s body gives the basis to one’s personal identity.”

みしょ2014/10/29(Wed) 00:05:36

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Thanks 悠歩, as you found out, I am one of the best geniuses in this world.

...It is a joke, and I am not a genius. I just translate a wise man's article with a language invented by many geniuses. "PLVRA EIS ET REMOTIORA VIDERE" posso, just with "GIGANTVM VMERIS INSIDENTES" SVNT.

It is perhaps because I have payed pretty much attention to a word, i.e., etymology and translingual comparison, and because I always think very carefully about what I am saying or writing.

It is a great honor to me that I could translate a concept to you.

I recommend you a book "集合・位相入門". It is written in Japanese, for beginners, and reader-friendly. You don't have to reach the end of the book because it is very professional. I recommend to read Chapter 1 only, which will be one-month good exercise of your brain.

みしょ2014/10/29(Wed) 00:07:34

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Thank you Tetsujin, I see what you mean, and find that I should clarify the definition of "ある" or "it exists". That is, I suspect that the basis given by the uniqueness is limited to the owner. I agree that one can feel the basis, but I cannot say "it exists".

Anyway we should wait for Gamay, as he might sulk if we proceed the discussion without him.